The Latter-day Life

When I think of the phrase, “In the beginning…” there are two verses that come to mind that begin with those words.

Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

John 1:1

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This past week, in the new Come, Follow Me manual that Church members are studying from, we studied John chapter 1. Having been familiar with the first verse and the different interpretations found across various faiths, I was anxious to dive a little deeper to understand it a little more.

To my surprise, I came across a Facebook post, with the author posting his observation of the Spanish translation.

“En el principio existía el Verbo, y el Verbo estaba con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios.” (La Biblia de las Américas)

It was pointed out that this particular translation refers to Christ as “the Verb.” The point being that verbs make things happen. I really liked that, so I let my curiosity take me down the rabbit hole of what turned out to be a wonderful comment thread.

Another person pointed out the possible Greek translation, based on the Greek word logos:

“One possible translation could be “In the beginning was the plan, and it was God’s plan, and the plan was Jesus Christ.”” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos)

And finally, the Joseph Smith Translation:

“In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.”

From these different translational variations, we can determine that in the beginning, there was a plan presented (the gospel), and that it was God’s plan, and that the Savior was key in not only the plan itself, but the presentation of that plan.

This doctrine is the keystone of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe that God has an eternal plan for his children, which includes this life on earth. The central piece of the plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through His grace, we can repent of our mistakes, and become more like the Savior, and ultimately, inherit eternal life in the presence of God with our families. 

In the beginning the heaven and the earth were created, and everything that was created God deemed “good.” John’s testimony indicates that in the beginning there was also a plan of redemption, and with all my heart I can attest, that it is good.